Month: November 2017

The Allbritton Center’s Right Now Series, the Fries Center for Global Studies, and Wesleyan World Wednesdays present:

Development Officer at Urban Refugees (NY) Jeffrey Stein ’10, and Tun Khin, Rohingya human rights activist and voice for Rohingya people around the world (London) discuss how we got here and what the crisis looks like on the ground.

Please join us on Tuesday, Nov. 28 at noon in the Fries Center for Global Studies (Fisk201).

The last day to withdraw from full-semester and second-quarter classes for the Fall 2017 semester is Friday, December 1.Completed forms are due in the Registrar’s Office by 5:00 p.m. and must include the following signatures: instructor, faculty advisor, and class dean.

If you are thinking about withdrawing from a course:

Do use this time to talk to your professors, your advisors, and me about your concerns. If you can’t make my drop-ins, please email me at dphillips@wesleyan.edu or call me at x2757 to schedule an appointment.

Do make sure you are taking advantage of all the resources available to you.

Do get the signatures of your instructor and advisor on your drop/add form. I cannot sign for either without his or her permission, so please save yourself the trouble of waiting to see me during drop-ins just for me to tell you that.

Do not wait until Friday at 4:00 p.m. to see me or you may find yourself waiting in a very long line!

This course offers a close study of Immanuel Kant’s magnum opus, the Critique of Pure Reason, supplemented by related writings by Kant and some secondary literature. Kant observes that the history of philosophy is rife with disagreements, even though philosophers purport to traffic in necessary truths disclosed by reason alone. This scandalous fractiousness calls into question reason’s ability to offer substantive insights into necessary truths. Kant’s “critique” aims to vindicate reason by distinguishing, in a principled manner, the sorts of things we can know with certainty from those that lie beyond the limits of human understanding. His central thesis, “transcendental idealism,” holds that “reason has insight only into what it produces after its own plan” (Bxiii). In other words, we can indeed be certain of key structural features of reality such as its spatiotemporality and causal interconnectedness–but only because those features are, in some crucial sense, mind-dependent. This class will explore in detail the arguments for these claims as well as prominent interpretations of their philosophical upshot.

As a philosophical discipline, aesthetic theory initially coalesced around a cluster of related issues concerning the nature of beauty and the norms governing its production, appreciation, and authoritative assessment. Beginning in the nineteenth century, however, both art and aesthetics undergo a conspicuous yet enigmatic shift, signaled by (among other things) Hegel’s declaration that “art, in its highest vocation, is and remains for us a thing of the past.” Rather suddenly, classical accounts of beauty, genius, aesthetic experience, and critical taste are beset by anxieties about the autonomy and significance of aesthetic praxis in human life and, subsequently, by a series of challenges to the tenebility of traditional aesthetic categories–author, text, tradition, meaning and interpretation, disinterested pleasure, originality, etc. Our aim in this course is to track these conceptual shifts and to interrogate the rationale behind them. (This course complements, but does not presuppose COL 266: History and Limits of Aesthetic Theory.)

Winter Session registration is open, and courses have started to fill. Please don’t wait to register; enrollment is on a first-come, first-served basis. Housing and Dining requests for Winter Session, Winter on Wyllys, and Teacher Generation will close at noon on Thursday, November 30. Review the information published on the Winter Session website (http://www.wesleyan.edu/wintersession), particularly the deadlines for registration, withdrawal, housing, dining, and more, and register as soon as possible to secure your seat.

How to Register for Winter Session Courses:

Navigate to Portal.

Go to the “Courses” Bucket and click on “Winter Session.”

Download and print the registration form.

Complete the registration form and have your advisor sign it.

Bring the signed, completed form to 74 Wyllys Avenue with full payment for tuition.

Students should bring their tuition payment in the form of a check or pre-payment on their student account so that the credit on their account is $3260 when they come to the Winter Session Office. Students awarded aid should bring a print-out of their aid letter and the balance of the tuition.

The office will not accept incomplete forms or forms that are not accompanied by full payment.

Students who are not currently on campus due to study abroad or leave should use the “Registration Information – Students not on Campus” link in the Winter Session bucket.

A Winter Wear drive is underway for winter outerwear and other warm clothing—coats, hats, scarves, mittens, boots, etc. The collection will be available on Friday, November 17 from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. in the Usdan Café. If you feel unprepared for the winter weather or are able to donate, please stop by!

An Introduction to Study Abroad and Fellowships for First Years and Sophomores

This event is specifically aimed at First Year and Sophomore students. Are you thinking about studying abroad during the 2018-2019 school year? Come along and find out what study abroad is all about! Study abroad staff will be happy to answer all your questions!

This event takes place on Wednesday, November 15th at 12:15 pm in the Fries Center for Global Studies Commons. Lunch will be provided

The Gordon Career Center’s WEShadow Externship Program provides students with opportunities to explore various careers by shadowing a Wesleyan alumna/us or parent at their place of work during the first two full-weeks of January. Shadow opportunities range from 1 day to 3 days and may include observing a professional or participating in a specific project within an organization or business.

Externship opportunities are available in a range of fields including stem, education, law, health professions, business, and entertainment and are open to students of all class years.

To see a full listing of WEShadow Externship opportunities, log-in to Handshake, click on “Jobs,” and do a keyword search for “WEShadow.” Use the filters in the column on the left to further narrow the results.

The application deadline for all WEShadow Externships is Friday, November 10th at 11:55pm. To apply, please submit your resume and a cover letter to each individual WEShadow Externship posting you are interested in on Handshake. Your resume must be approved by the Gordon Career Center on Handshake in order to apply.

The Fries Center for Global Studies staff has put together a rich agenda of week-long activities in recognition of this initiative, activities that are intended to be informative, engaging and fun! Check out what’s available by clicking on the image below. Most importantly, mark your calendars and come celebrate with us in Fisk 201 to meet the Wes in the World Photo Contestants!

Puerto Rico was hit by the worst hurricane in over a century. There is currently a humanitarian crisis. Hurricane María left the entire island without electricity, water, and has taken the homes of thousands of Puerto Ricans. The country is completely devastated. The ecological damage is tremendous, and there is a public health crisis.

Currently:

there is no electricity or tap water

water is contaminated in the entire island (there is a strong need for water filters)

there are outbreaks of: leptospirosis, conjunctivitis, and gastrointestinal disorders

around 7,000 additional people are living in shelters post Maria

Danza Orgánica (DO), directed by Marsha Parrilla, is a dance theater company that uses movement to generate awareness around social justice concerns. It’s newest work, MELAZA explores de colonial relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States of America. It has also served as a platform to generate awareness around Hurricane Maria, and raise funds towards grassroots organizations.

Representatives from the Study Abroad Office and the Center for Community Partnerships as well as the department chair will be on hand to provide information about opportunities through semester study abroad (transfer credits?) or through participation in the community at home.

A course taught at Trinity College and offered to Wesleyan students by telepresence, with plenty of academic and technical support at the home campus, both during and outside of class.

This course is designed for heritage speakers–students who understand and speak Spanish, who grew up in a Spanish-speaking environment, but whose education was primarily in English, in the US. This course, offers many benefits, such as:

Study Spanish in an academic setting in the same way that native English-speakers study English

Polish both oral and written language skills in Spanish

Learn more about your language and your cultural heritage

Meet students with similar interests and experiences

Gain awareness and understanding of the Hispanic/Latin@ cultures: i.e., identity and communities inside and outside the US, language variation, geography, history, customs and traditions, current events, music, arts and food